The soloing is an album highlight, with 'Sludge Factory' and 'Brush Away' containing some very nice guitar work. Jerry Cantrell is a very talented guitarist, and he does what he does best here, with some massive, crunching riffs. These minor problems with deteriorating voices do not detract from the music itself, which on the most part is quite brilliantly executed. On others such as 'God Am' his voice sounds rather weak. On some songs, such as the seven minute epic 'Frogs', this can sound quite interesting and add to the overall grungey effect. Gone are his epic screams of the past, with his heroin abuse destroying his voice to more of a croak than a wail. Staley sings lead much more often on this album than Jerry, which can have some negative effects to songs. They are both very experienced singers, with some great vocal harmonies on 'Heaven Beside You'. One of the most definable characteristics of AIC are the vocals, provided by both deceased singer Layne Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. Amongst some heavy grunge songs you will find some wonderful ballads such as the masterpiece of 'Heaven Beside You' or the delightful album closer, aptly named 'Over Now' Does this make the album boring and predictable? Well, no. I can easily say the same about their fourth record, the self titled 'Alice In Chains' (third if you do not include the EP, Jar of Flies.) As you listen to the album you will find that the distorted guitar crunch that forms AIC's trademark sound is never far away. 'Facelift' was mostly just hard rock with plenty of distortion, 'Dirt' was grungey as hell with songs dealing with drugs and depression, and 'Jar Of Flies' was full of acoustic numbers with lyrics dealing with loneliness and forgiveness. If there is one thing that I can say about the group Alice In Chains, it is that they are very consistent with their albums.

Layne Staley (RIP): Vocals, some rhythm guitar Review Summary: Although not comparable to such masterpieces as Dirt or Jar of Flies, Alice In Chains is still a very good album with only minor shortcomings.

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